darkRai: Vengeance Is Served
by Noritsu
Summary: Short anthology series showcasing the darker side of Rai's nature. In this 3rd story, after Raimundo witnesses a fight between Chase & Hannibal, he hatches a plan to make the Heylin pay for killing Master Fung. RaiGuanChaseWuyaHannibal.
1. Discordant Melody

**2/11/09** - Now that I'm coming back to this and adding a few more stories to it, it would probably be a good idea to mention that I picture Raimundo older in this series. Say, in his very early 20's.

**Xiaolin Showdown**

**darkRai**

Authoress: Noritsu

Disclaimer

I **do not** own the Xiaolin Showdown characters, or the Xiaolin Showdown universe. They are copyrighted and belong to Christie Hui and Warner Brothers.

The storyline, however, is mine. So no pilfering, please. Thanks.

**TUN** Publishing Company

May, 2007

**T**he**U**sual**N**onsense

**Discordant Melody**

Chase pulled the Shen Gong Wu from the branch and turned it over. It didn't look like much, but right now, it was the most valuable object in his possession. Casting out his Heylin senses, he took note of the creeping agitation that seemed to permeate the air in the immediate vicinity of where his jungle cats sat watching.

"Patience, my warriors," he said. "The element we seek will soon be in our grasp."

"We should go deeper."

Chase turned in the direction of the voice. Sharp as his reptilian eyes were, even they could not penetrate the thick fog that lay around them. He was relying solely on his Heylin senses to lead them. "I see no need to draw them further into the wood. This distance is sufficient for our purposes."

"But if they try to run – "

"Our intent is to capture the other three. And my army will have them surrounded. There _is_ nowhere for them to run." He paused. "The wind element will have no choice but to fight."

Wuya looked up toward the forest canopy. She could just barely discern the topmost branches through the thin upper layer of the fog above them.

"I would like to finish my thought, please."

Chase sighed. If he didn't let her feel like she'd had a chance to voice her opinion, she would probably spend the rest of the day whining, and acting slighted.

"Go ahead."

"I was going to say, that we should go deeper into the forest and relocate the Wu. Raimundo's wind sense might alert him to our presence before we want it to. If they're deeper inside, there will be less chance that they will get out successfully."

Chase considered Wuya's suggestion. As distasteful as it was for him to admit, she had a point. From the day he'd been made Shoku warrior, Master Fung began drilling Raimundo on fine-tuning his sensory perception, and his ability to manipulate even the smallest pockets of air around him. It was getting to the point where Raimundo could even detect sounds that traveled a significant distance, although how far a distance, he couldn't be sure.

Over the course of the past year and a half, they'd gained little ground – Hannibal included. Most of the confrontations they'd drawn the dragons into, either separately, or as a group, had ended in either a draw, or a failure of some sort. He'd finally come to the realization that the direct attack strategy was not going to work.

He needed to come up with an alternate plan to bring them down and, after taking the time to shadow them for these past few weeks, he realized that the key was as simple as striking at Raimundo's achilles heel. Which, in his case, were the other three elements themselves.

Raimundo's teachings to his fellow warriors, and the training exercises he had them engage in, mostly seemed to center around stressing that they needed to achieve a state of synergy to be most effective in battle. All he had to do then, was remove the other three from Raimundo's presence and see how long it would take him to drive himself mad from their absence.

And that, if all went well, was going to happen today. He had planned this ambush down to what he believed was the smallest detail. He even went so far as to warn Jack that the next Shen Gong Wu was off limits, because that was when the trap would be sprung.

"We'll go deeper," he said abruptly, "as you suggest. Hang on to my arm."

Wuya wrapped her long fingers around Chase's upper arm and walked blindly after him. She could hear the soft padding of the jungle cats as they followed after, and she shuddered. She had tried to get Chase to see reason, and ask Hannibal along for back-up purposes, but he had rejected that out of hand, without even taking the time to consider it. In spite of the fact that almost all of Chase's army of cats were here with them, she couldn't shake the sense that something was going to go horribly wrong. She tried to tell herself that it was just the thick morning fog that was spooking her, because she couldn't see anything, and the sense of dread was just her imagination.

On the other hand, if Raimundo inadvertantly detected the sound of their breathing before they were ready, it wouldn't matter how deep in the forest, or how many of them there were. They would be the ones that would end up on the wrong side of the trap.

And with Raimundo, the wrong side of a trap was a bad place to be.

xsxsxs

The sun beat down through the forest canopy in a vain attempt to cleave the fog from the underbrush it covered.

But the cool morning air of the wood's floor was not ready to let go, so it clung stubbornly to the rising mist, even as the mist ascended heavenward, dragging the molecules with it, as it attempted with all its might to rejoin it's skyward companions.

Twigs snapped and crunched under the feet of the four dragons-in-training as they doggedly trudged through the damp air, the three behind, clinging to the one in front that was their Shoku.

Said Shoku's eyes were closed at the moment.

The topography of the forest played across his internal vision as he walked, his senses tuned to pick up the outline from the displacement of the air where the trees, and brush, took up space. It was slow going like this, but it didn't really matter at the moment. With the fog lying thick on the forest floor, they couldn't have seen anyway, with the naked eye, what they'd come here to find.

In the back of his mind, he wondered if he shouldn't have just taken Omi up on his naive suggestion to clear away the fog with a gust of wind. He hadn't wanted to do that because it would also clear the way for Jack to see where the Shen Gong Wu was that they were tracking. Now that they were in the midst of the wood, however, he was beginnning to second guess himself. Jack probably had some fancy navigational equipment that would allow him to see through this thick pea soup anyway.

He folded his arms and reached his hands inside his tunic sleeves to touch the small metal objects that resided there. He found the cool metal reassuring against his fingers, and he chided himself for being silly. This was just a routine Shen Gong Wu hunt. His only concern would be Jack.

Right?

Behind him, somewhere in the mist, and perched on Clay's hat, the sound of Dojo sniffing the air carried forward to his ears. He slowed down his gait and brought them to a halt.

"Are we getting close?" he asked.

"I know it's somewhere around here," Dojo answered, "somewhere up ahead, like, on the leftish side. I'm thinking it's an 'up' kind of here, instead of a 'down' kind."

_The leftish side?_

Raimundo shook his head, a touch of amusement brushing his emotions, and brought his arms up in front of him. He separated them, sweeping them out to the sides, and held them at shoulder level. He concentrated his senses on the trees immediately in front of him, straining to 'see' out to as far a distance as he could. Finding nothing, he slowly began turning in a circle.

_Ambush! _

"Get down!" he yelled, as he suddenly sensed the imminent danger from above as it dropped down on top of them. His three teammates obediently threw themselves on the ground as the familiar sound, and feel, of stirring air hummed against their ears, and beat against their bodies. In a matter of moments, Rai had whipped up a cyclone force wind and flung it away from him, shearing the fog from the underbrush, and lifting it towards the canopy, where it would be free to drift overhead, and disperse wherever it pleased.

Clay, Omi, and Kimiko started screaming in tandem as the sharp stabbing pain of teeth sinking into their ankles was felt, and they found themselves surrounded, and being pulled backwards, by Chase's jungle cats.

Rai instinctively jumped forward after them only to find himself being propelled backwards and thrown onto the ground by a group of cats that had jumped on him. They sat on his chest, and legs, pinning him to the ground. The stench of their breath against his face almost gagged him.

He beat down a rising sense of panic, and closed his eyes. Reaching down inside himself, he found the strength he needed and called it to his aid. He flung the cats off his chest as though he were tossing away a pair of shoes.

"Shoku Borealis!"

An explosion of intense blue light engulfed, and flared, around Raimundo's body, expanding out away from him, and blinding the cats that were unlucky enough to be standing, or sitting, within a few yard's radius of him.

He jumped up onto his feet, and looked frantically around for his companions.

"Missing something?" a voice asked.

Raimundo turned to find Chase staring at him, a few yards away, with a smirk on his face. Behind him, his three teammates were lying on the ground, bound tightly with rope by some of Chase's warriors that were in human form.

He felt himself go cold as he struggled to maintain an even temperament. The blue halo of light that surrounded him seemed to grow darker, an indication that his mood was on the downswing.

Chase smiled. This was exactly the effect he was looking for. Raimundo was already struggling with his emotional balance, all he needed was a little goading in the right direction, and he'd snap.

"Take them away," he said to the warriors behind him. "No need to stand them upright."

The warriors began dragging the three captives backward over the ground. The underbrush of the forest slapped, and thrashed at them as they moved.

The strain of internal warring emotions shone on Raimundo's face as he watched his companions struggle, to no avail, within the ropes that bound them. He looked up to stare at Chase. Brown reptilian eyes met cold green ones, and Raimundo, in a great effort of concentration, shook off the anger that was threatening to take him over.

The light surrounding him suddenly turn white, and he blasted the warriors that had bound his three companions backwards into some trees behind them. They fell to the ground, unconscious, and he reached into his tunic sleeves, and pulled out two small metal objects. His face cracked open into a cruel smile and he banged the two objects together.

Two musical notes suddenly rang out in the forest. They vibrated across the distance separating Rai from Chase, and Chase's eyes widened in horror.

Tuning forks.

Wuya watched as Chase clapped his hands over his ears and sank to the ground in agony. His face was contorted in pain and reflected the look that all the jungle cats were also wearing. Many of them were already turning and running away, fleeing from the sound that she, herself, could not hear. Apparently, the notes were out of human range, but within the range that would torment an animal if it heard them.

And Chase was part dragon.

Raimundo swept his hands out in front of him and released his grips on the tuning forks. They hovered in the air, an equal distance apart. He reached forward with his index, and middle fingers, and placed them directly in the center of the forks.

A portion of the halo of white light gathered itself in front of his outstretched fingers. Rai 'pushed' on the melody drifting across the forest, carefully applying a slow measure of pressure to the twined notes. The two notes, normally complementary in nature, began to warp, and fracture, and finally shattered under the chi energy assault.

The melody suddenly turned ugly, and Rai prodded the two notes, no longer harmonious, in Chase's direction.

The result was immediate and crippling. Chase threw himself over sideways onto the ground and curled up into a fetal position. The discordant noise was so unbearable that he began screaming in an attempt to drive it from his mind so he couldn't hear it. It tore at his insides, scratching at his senses, and shredding his every cell.

Wuya finally snapped out of the horrified trancelike state she was in and started screaming at Raimundo herself.

"Stop!" she yelled. "_Stop it!_" she screamed, at the top of her lungs. "_Stop!_"

Rai broke his efforts to give her a cursory glance, and then turned back to Chase.

Wuya gritted her teeth. "_**Please!**_" she shouted.

Raimundo abruptly dropped his chi attack, and pulled the forks from the air, to stuff them back inside his tunic sleeves. The light that surrounded him dissipated and floated away. He waved his hand back and forth across the air in front of him, creating a light breeze that dispersed, and blew, the twisted music away.

"Ah, the magic word."

Wuya bit her tongue. She was not going to give him the satisfaction.

"You know, I just picked them up in little music shop a few days ago," he said conversationally.

"_I don't care!_" she snarled at him.

He shrugged. "I thought they might come in handy sometime. I was right."

He smiled sweetly at her, as though nothing at all had just happened, and walked forward to stand mere inches away from Chase's writhing form. Blood trickled from his ear, and nose, and mingled with the tears streaming from his eyes. He was still shaking from head to foot, and she rubbed her hand across his back in an attempt to calm him.

"How touching," he said, the scorn evident in his voice.

She looked up and gave him a scathing glare.

He arched an eyebrow. "You know, if you kill him, his suppression of your powers will end, and you'll have them back."

Her mouth dropped open in shock, and Rai stepped casually over Chase, and walked away.

She turned slightly and watched as Rai unbound his teammates. He pulled a shaky Dojo from under Clay's hat and held him close, rubbing his head, and back, and talking to him in a soothing voice. He directed Kimiko and Omi to the Wu, which they now claimed, unopposed.

She turned back around, no longer caring about the scenario behind her. Her thoughts ran furiously across her mind, crowding and jumbling together as she tried to make sense of everything that had just happened in the last fifteen minutes.

She recalled that Hannibal had told them once that Master Monk Guan had used the adjectives 'dark', and 'ruthless', to describe Raimundo's personality. She'd seen flashes of it before – that cold calculation – in battle, but never had it been on such blatant display as it was a little while ago.

And now, it had disappeared just as quickly, and the gentler part of his nature was back in force, making sure that his friends were mostly unscathed and intact.

What kind of warrior was this, that Mother Nature had bred for herself? What had driven her to create an elemental warrior that could wield both the light, and dark forces, and maintain their balance within him?

She bit her lip as she tried to digest the possible consequence that would inevitably come to pass if they found themselves unable to rid themselves of his presence. He would grow stronger still, his mastery over his element, and his martial arts skill, eventually surpassing the combined skill of the lot of them.

She made up her mind that when Chase recovered from his injury, she would use whatever argument she could think of; would use whatever persuasion she could muster; to make him see reason, and make peace with Hannibal, at least temporarily, so they could pool their armies together and come up with a means for bringing Raimundo down.

And they would have to do it as quickly as possible.

Because if they didn't…..

…..the devil himself wouldn't be able to help them.

finis

* * *

I would like to correct 'a most grievous error' (as Omi would say) that I committed when I posted my last fic. I forgot to thank everyone who R&R'd my little Dojo ficcie. So, now, I would like to say – to everyone who read my Dojo, and Rai/Kim fic – Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I really appreciate it that you took the time out of your day to click on my ficcies and read them, and especially Thanks! to those who also took the time to leave a review.

So, anyway, in this fic, I kind of took a different tact and showed Wuya's reaction to Rai acting all dark and everything against Chase, and being the one to cause a little suffering for once. Like he shouldn't be trying to kick Heylin butt! Ha!

I hope you all like it. If you did, click the button and leave a review. You know you wanna!

TTFN, Nori


	2. Breathe

I am so sorry I've been off the boards for so long. I've had an awful time trying to find the proper finish for this story. Hopefully, you'll think I've succeeded. Enjoy!

**Breathe**

Ying-Ying glided silently through the branches of the small copse of trees that sat in the middle of the plain. It alighted, just as silently, next to it's master and partner in crime.

Namely, a certain one Hannibal Roy Bean.

Hannibal smiled evilly to himself as he watched a certain wind warrior leading his companions to the edge of a frothy river they would need to cross in order to get to the Wu they were hunting. The Wu was just on the other side of the wooded area that he and his Ying-Ying bird were hiding in. The warrior's path would lead them directly through the small copse, and right into Hannibal's trap, thereby sealing the Shoku's doom for the rest of eternity.

After having spent two exceedingly long months nursing his wounded pride from the last defeat he'd suffered at Rai's hands, he finally felt that he was in the mood again to engage the young warrior in battle. He'd come to the realization that he was sick of fighting the wind warrior on the silly pretense that it was all about the Wu, or gaining the upper hand in the world domination game. What this really was about; what it should have been about all along, was getting revenge.

Yes, that was what he actually wanted.

From the first time Raimundo had made a fool of him at Master Guan's temple, to the defeat Rai had handed him in the alternate reality Omi had created, and every stinking time thereafter, he'd wanted nothing more than to get revenge on the upstart Shoku. And this time, he was going to get it right. _This_ time he would take the one weakness that he knew for certain Raimundo had and turn it against him. His plan was so straightforward and simple, it was almost poetic.

Poetic revenge, as it were.

It had become known to Hannibal, quite some time ago, that Raimundo had feelings for a certain elemental warrioress of the fiery persuasion. He had found this out the first time he went after Rai and invaded his mind hoping to break him from within. Why he hadn't jumped on this little tidbit of information ages ago didn't matter. What mattered was that he was going to utilize it now. Poor Kimiko had no idea that he was going to use her very existance to twist the wind warrior, break him, and leave him lying in a heap on the ground.

Hannibal rubbed his rope-like arms together eagerly and leaned over to speak to his bird.

"Tell me Ying-Ying, what have you seen?"

Ying-Ying tilted its head and gazed into Hannibal's eyes. In a manner similar to that of Chase and his crow, the two communicated, without words, with each other. Hannibal saw clearly the trek the Xiaolin warriors had made to bring them to this point in the Wu hunt. He saw the little exchanges between Rai and Kim as well as the others. He could _feel_ the connection between Rai and Kim as though it were a palpable thing.

The telepathic exchange ended and Hannibal straightened himself up. Soon, Raimundo would draw near. Soon, the time would be at hand to set his plan in motion. It would begin the very moment Kimiko came within snatching distance and would end the moment Rai realized he would have to surrender to Hannibal or Kimiko would die.

The evil grin spread across Hannibal's face again as he realized that there was really no need for him to keep his choices so limited.

Maybe, just maybe, he would kill Kimiko anyway.

xxx

Raimundo halted at the edge of the river and cast his eyes sideways at Dojo. The little dragon had a thoughtful frown on his face as he considered their position.

"I'm pretty sure it's across the river and then there's that small copse of trees there." He nodded his head in agreement to what he was saying. "Yeah…..it's on the other side."

Rai smiled lightly and turned his gaze behind him to regard his other three teammates. He was never at a loss of amusement over Dojo's usually sketchy directions where finding a Wu were concerned. He caught Kimiko smiling back at him in a knowing manner and he held her eyes just for a moment before turning to Clay.

"Think you can coax some stepping stones to come up in the river? I don't feel like traipsing up and down looking for some stones that are already in place."

Clay smiled, meshed his fingers together and flexed them – cracking his knuckles as he did so – and then strode forward to the edge of the river and knelt down.

Rai resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Clay's showy overture of his elemental power, and blew a breath out and upwards that ruffled the bangs of his chestnut hair. Ever since they'd disembarked from Dojo in the mountain pass and stepped out from its protection into the open, he'd become aware of the fact that they were being watched. He didn't know from where, but the copse of trees they would soon be heading towards was at the top of his list. It was the perfect place to spring a trap out here in the open plain they were standing in. The fact that no one had attacked them when Dojo set down in the pass, coupled with the fact that Jack hadn't shown up yet to challenge them, was an almost glaring sign that one of the other Heylins was lying in wait for them.

He was certain that Chase was not behind the feeling he was getting. Remembering back to the unfortunate experiences he'd had with Hannibal in the past, he was betting that it was him and his Ying-Ying bird.

A feeling of agitation crept into his conscious and he made no effort to turn from it. Quite frankly, he was getting sick and tired of the various Heylin members coming after him and attempting to bring him down. If they wanted to fight with the Xiaolin, why didn't they just simply amass an army and attack them already and call it a war? This petty vendetta they were clinging to with going after him – like he was some trophy they wanted to bag – was getting to be exceedingly annoying. And the fact that they kept zeroing in on his teammates as a way to subdue him only made him that much angrier. And if they hadn't learned their lesson by now that stoking his anger only made things that much worse for them….well, they would never learn, then, would they?

The earth continued to rumble slightly as Clay brought the last stepping stone up from out of the depths and placed it neatly an equal distance between the next-to-last stone and the shore on the opposite side. He turned around and smiled triumphantly with his hands on his hips.

"Think that'll do 'er?" he asked.

Rai turned his eyes to the tree line. He could see nothing at all. Not even a shadow of nothing. He couldn't keep his mouth shut much longer. When they got to the other side of the river, he would tell them they needed to be on guard and reassure them that, as they had many times before, they would come out of this okay.

For now, though, he shook his feelings away with an effort and smiled at Clay. "That's exactly what I was hoping for. Nice job!"

Clay, feeling quite the accomplished artist, waved his Shoku forward. "After you!"

xxx

The evil grin of anticipation on Hannibal's face began to subside. Slowly at first, and then quickly, in a flash, as he watched in growing anger the exchange that Raimundo was having with his teammates.

After crossing the river, Rai brought everyone to a halt. He then proceeded to talk to them about something. Dojo began shrieking, and Rai made a failed attempt to calm him down. He then plucked the little green dragon off his shoulder and stuffed him into Clay's hat. After that, the conversation continued, with interruptions from Dojo, who popped out from under Clay's hat whenever he felt like putting his two cents back in. Raimundo kept pointing down the length of the river, and then making a 'left-turn' motion in the direction of the trees. It took Hannibal a while, but he finally came to understand the Shoku's hand signals.

Raimundo was not going to take the shortcut and lead them into the trees after all. He was going to take the long route by walking down along the river's edge to bring them adjacent to where the wooded area ended, and then they would cut left and walk past the tree line to get to the Wu.

If Hannibal had had fists, he would have balled them. "How can he know we're here?" he hissed. Ying-Ying cocked its head in thought but said nothing. "You're sure he didn't see you?" Hannibal asked it. Ying-Ying turned to look at him. The thought that it communicated to him told him that it was absolutely certain that the wind warrior had not seen it leave the mountains and fly back to the trees.

During his self-imposed two month exile, Hannibal had spent a great deal of time watching and studying Raimundo, with his own eyes and through the eyes of his Ying-Ying bird. He knew that Master's Fung and Guan had set about training him, from the moment he became Shoku, in how to tune his feelings in to detecting the dark energies that the Heylin used so he could tell when they were about. But Hannibal had not used his Moby Morpher yet. He was still his normal small size. And Ying-Ying wasn't that large a bird. Not like Chase's crow which would stick out like a sore thumb. They surely weren't creating that large a ripple in the Heylin energies that Raimundo could pick them up, were they? Was it possible that Raimundo had refined his sensitivity to picking up the dark energies to the point where he could detect someone as small as him and Ying-Ying?

Hannibal gritted his teeth. He didn't care that Raimundo was ruining his perfect plan. He would alter it slightly and jump from the tree line to ambush them. He _would_ have his revenge, and he would have it _today_.

xxx

Raimundo felt, and heard, rather than saw, the attack coming.

The sound, however minute, of leaves being jostled and ripped from branches and trees, carried forth to his ears as he and the others came within yards of the tree line they were about to pass. And the ripples in the dark Heylin energies were expanding at an alarming rate.

Every muscle in Rai's body tensed and he stopped suddenly, flung his arms out to the sides protectively and exclaimed, "Ready!"

Behind him his teammates immediately tensed as well and slipped into battle positions.

Raimundo reached out with his wind sense to draw a bead on where the attack would be coming from. The copse was not particulary dense, but the trees were in full bloom and there was a maddening mix of sun rays and shadow where he couldn't have picked out any discernible shapes with the naked eye. Like a negative image on film, the forest opened up before him in his mind's eye. He zeroed in on Hannibal's tiny bean form and the Ying-Ying bird as it glided along with him. Unfortunately, the very moment that Raimundo found him was also the moment that Hannibal chose to use the Moby Morpher to transform. He suddenly exploded into his larger self, without missing a beat, or any of the tree branches he was hauling himself along in his haste to get out from under cover.

The transformation felt like an assault on Raimundo's senses and he reeled back away and almost lost his footing. It was like seeing someone toss a little pebble at you and then suddenly, in mid-flight, it turns into a huge boulder. Clay grabbed him from behind and pushed him forward, and Rai regained himself just in the nick of time.

Hannibal came crashing out from the tree line with a guttural roar eminating from somewhere deep within him, and he flung himself at the warriors like some traumatized entity that had suddenly snapped and gone berserk.

Raimundo curled his hand into a fist and punched Hannibal in the stomach. No wind power, no Xiaolin magic, or any other supernatural forces came into play. The strength of Rai's punch created enough raw force that his hand sunk into what passed for Hannibal's midsection while the upper and lower parts collapsed slightly inward. Rai felt Hannibal's breath on his neck just before the bean rebounded to go sailing away backwards.

Hannibal was no sooner gone from his fist when Rai jumped up in the air, carried aloft by a cushion of air. His intention was to slam a vertical column of air into the ground where Hannibal had just landed. The force of the concentrated air hitting the ground would throw Hannibal back into the tree line, after which, Rai would waste no time in going on the offensive to finish off his opponent.

Rai raised his arms to gather the air above him, and found himself suddenly under attack by Ying-Ying.

He didn't lose his balance this time like he had on the ground. Keeping his eyes on Hannibal, he whipped up a thin rope of wind and snapped it like a bull-whip at the place where he felt Ying-Ying was. The little bird went careening away somewhere to the open plain behind them. Where, Rai didn't know, nor did he care. His mind and heart had already hardnened into battle mode. There were dozens of possible moves he could pick to execute right at this moment, but the only one that would matter would be the one that would remove _them_, not Hannibal, from this immediate situation with the greatest of speed.

Using a trick he had taught himself years ago when his wind training was still in its early stages, he seized control of the air molecules around himself and his teammates and drew them together into four separate, whirling columns. The mini-cyclones sprang up underneath their feet where they were standing and catapulted them straight upwards into the air. The ground receded at an alarming rate of speed and before the other three warriors new what had happened they were hovering up above the tree tops. Raimundo spun around to face them. He looked directly into Omi's eyes and yelled "Take charge!" right before he yanked the mini-cyclones away, flipped them horizontal and slammed them sideways into his teammates propelling them away toward where Dojo had indicated the Wu would be.

xxx

Hannibal was so enraged he didn't know what to do. He couldn't think straight at all. He was so consumed with hatred at the moment that all he could do was feel. And his feelings spun and surged and coalesced, and finally condensed into a single thought in his mind. _Kill._

Up from the ground where Rai had thrown him, he came with an angry cry. Several choice curse words he flung at the Shoku.

Raimundo was alone, having just sent his teammates off in an unscheduled mid-air flight. If Hannibal had been in control of his faculties, it would have dawned on him that this was _not_ a vulnerable situation for his enemy to be in right now. On the contrary, with his teammates out of harm's way, and the only thing they might have to contend with was an attack or two from Ying-Ying, Raimundo was in exactly the position he wanted to be in.

Hannibal lunged at the wind warrior full-force with all his many sinewy arms reaching forward to grab his foe and bind him.

Raimundo raised a hand and a small spiral of air began whirling in front of the palm of his hand. It grew and solidified, and stretched itself out toward the oncoming bean. Hannibal didn't flinch, or even try to slow down. He continued heading straight for Raimundo. He would smash the little spiral of wind into wispy strands and then he would attack; head-on and without mercy. The gap between he and Raimundo grew smaller yet and he set his ropey arms into position to snap them forward at the small wind funnel. An evil grin spread across his face. His moment of triumph was at hand. Rai's only defense was a barrier of wind. _He_ had the power of the dark Heylin energy on his side. He opened his mouth, ready to fling another barbed insult at the wind warrior.

Suddenly, and without warning, Raimundo pushed the spiral of wind he'd been cradling into Hannibal's mouth. The swirling mass of air was rammed down into his insides, or what passed for his insides. Hannibal grabbed at his mouth in an attempt to yank the wind spiral away from it. He could not.

His ability to control his own actions began slipping away, and he felt himself begin to fall from the air. He clawed desperately at his upper body and his mouth but he could not dislodge the little cyclone. It seemed to fill every nook and cranny in his mouth and throat completely, cutting off his oxygen supply. He made several failed attempts to snatch the wind warrior by the arms, legs, or neck to shove him away, but he was not focusing as clearly as he had been just a few seconds ago. The wind funnel spun inside him, the pressure of it, as controlled by Raimundo, pushing him back down toward the earth. He felt as though the inside of his dense, fibrous body was being scratched to pieces, and it caused him terrible pain.

The bean's eyes tracked toward Rai's face and he saw, for the first time, the look of dark satisfaction that lay there. The Shoku's face was set with determination, concentration and something else that was far more sinister than what Hannibal could comprehend at the moment. His vision was beginning to dim and he felt his sense of consciousness start to leave him. The last thoughts that passed through his mind were that his body was expanding to be larger than it normally was, even as his bigger self, and that Raimundo was talking to him. He was not aware that he had slammed into the ground, when he finally landed. Raimundo yanked the mass of swirling air from Hannibal's body, and Hannibal inhaled a much needed breath before the lights went out.

xxx

The Wu sparkled a pearlescent color in the dappled light, and Omi decided to allow himself and his teammates a few moments to ooh and aah over how pretty it was. He then tucked it into the inside of his tunic and declared that they needed to get back to Raimundo to help him finish his defeat of Hannibal Bean. They ran back through the weedy field they were in toward the copse of trees where they had left Rai and Hannibal.

When they got to the cleared path that ran around the perimeter of the wood, Raimundo was waiting for them. He stood casually, with his thumbs hooked into the waistband of his pants, but there was a worried look on his face that belied the attitude he was attempting to project.

"Were you guys attacked by Ying-Ying at all?" he asked, without greeting or preamble.

Kimiko looked at him quizzically. "Uh, no."

Rai's expression shifted into something more thoughtful and he turned to cast his gaze back over the area of the plain he'd walked from to get here. "Mmmmm," was his only comment.

Kimiko's expression turned from questioning to confused. "Where's Hannibal?"

Rai unhooked one of his hands and motioned back over his shoulder. "Unconscious."

He offered no further explanation, and his teammates, after sharing a look between them, knew better than to press.

Finally, Rai tore his gaze away from searching the open field and shrugged. "Well, I guess it's time for you to turn into a big, green dude," he said, patting Dojo on the head. "We should get back to the temple."

xxx

The sun had sunk far enough down past the horizon that the stars in the darkening sky were beginning to take on a more noticeable twinkle.

And still, Hannibal Roy Bean lay unmoving on the ground where Raimundo had deposited him earlier in their battle.

His mind was a jumble of thoughts and questions over how the battle could have come to the end that it did. He'd had Raimundo one-on-one, which should have been almost as good as having Kimiko to use as leverage. With the Shoku's teammates out of the way and not causing further distraction, it should have been easy for him to bring down the wind warrior.

The possiblities ranged anywhere from the thought that he was losing his touch, to he was wasting too much time plotting instead of doing, to maybe he just simply needed to gather an army of sorts to come with him. But would an army even be able to help?

He knew that the last few times Chase and his cats had gone after Rai and the others, the monks had gotten away with barely a few scratches. If he was any judge at all of the training timetable that Master's Fung and Guan had Raimundo on, it would be maybe six months to a year tops and they would start putting him through the tests he needed to complete to become a full-fledged wind _dragon_.

Hannibal pulled in a great breath and sighed. His gaze shifted up to the tree line where he knew Ying-Ying was watching him. The bird had chosen to stay out of his fight with Raimundo because it knew that only one of them could win. Ying-Ying was even more evil than he was, if that was possible. If Ying-Ying felt that Hannibal was beginning to lose his edge, it wouldn't take much for the bird to decide that it no longer wanted Hannibal as its master. It would leave him and go straight to Chase. He knew that his loss to Raimundo had knocked him down a notch in the bird's assessment of how strong he was.

The sky was nearly pitch dark by now and the insects had begun their nightly chirping rituals. Hannibal hauled himself into an upright position. He couldn't lay here for the rest of his life. He had to get up and continue on and throw himself back into the fray.

The creeping sense of dread that had been hovering at the back of his mind began pushing itself up to the forefront and he made a futile attempt to beat it back down yet again. He did not want to allow himself to believe that he was developing a sense of fear over the wind warrior, and yet, he couldn't dodge his "little voice" which kept insisting that he should.

In those last few moments of consciousness at the end of the battle, Raimundo had managed to invade his mind and communicate with him telepathically because of how weakened he had been. The thought had consisted of only a single sentence, but it created such a sense of alarm within him that he knew he must pick it apart, and study it, and deal with it no matter how badly he didn't want to.

Hannibal swallowed hard and his breath hitched in his throat as he remembered what the wind warrior had said to him, and the callous tone which Raimundo had used. Could it be true? Could it be possible that he, Hannibal Roy Bean, could actually be vulnerable to losing his life? He had never thought that it would be so. And yet, in all his fifteen hundred years of being alive, and all the battles and wars he'd fought in, he hadn't met an opponent quite like Raimundo. Of course, all his other opponents couldn't control the very air that surrounded them, either.

Hannibal put his sinewy arms in front of him and began pulling himself forward along the ground. Would Ying-Ying offer to fly him home, or would the bird keep silent watch from the sky as he dragged himself back home the long, arduous way? Right now, it was apparent that the bird was not going to budge from its perch.

With the stars as his only form of light, and his feeling that the mountains would provide the only source of solace for him this evening, Hannibal continued alone on his way.

In the darkness behind him, Raimundo's words seemed to echo, mocking his every movement forward.

_I've just figured out how to kill you, Hannibal Roy Bean._

Hannibal shuddered, but forged ahead. It was going to be a very long night.

finis

* * *

I've decided to turn this initial story of Discordant Melody into a short series of one-shots called darkRai. And yes, I hijacked the name from Pokemon. That said, I don't think Pokemon's darkRai has anything on OUR darkRai. He's still the original and still the best! I'm going to do at least one more of these, in which Rai will be definitely darker yet. After that, I'm hoping to be able to come up with an idea for him and Wuya to go at each other.

Anyway, I hope you liked the story. I'm going to try to get back on the boards now with something resembling regularity.

TTFN, Nori


	3. Vengeance Is Served

**2 quickie things:** This story is written in the "present tense" style of writing, not the usual "past tense" style that is normally used. I hope that doesn't throw you off too much. Also, I decided to make chapter designations within the story because of the way the plot bounces between Xiaolin/Heylin characters & locations.

**Vengeance Is Served **

**I**

The sun has not yet begun clawing its way up past the horizon when Raimundo rolls over, slaps off the alarm and slips out of bed. Bare feet slide into worn slippers and he makes his way, from memory, down dark, unlit hallways to reach the heavy wooden doors of the temple.

Silently they open and the wind warrior steps out onto the cool concrete walkway. For a moment he listens, weighing each chirp, trill, click, and croak in his mind, as if trying to discern if any of them seem out of place, or perhaps seem as though they are not what they would appear to be.

But there doesn't seem to be anything amiss so he heads down the walkway to where it ends, and steps off into the dewy grass to make his way to the cliff point that hangs above the water.

A steel gray, mirrored surface rolls out unimpeded as far as the eye can see and Raimundo stares vacantly at the seemingly landless horizon. The sun has a while to go yet before it becomes visible, and its coming is betrayed only by the pale sliver of amber color that separates sky from water.

Many thoughts crowd his mind this morning, as they have been doing every day these past six weeks. Six weeks of upheaval, six weeks of sorrow, six weeks of uncertainty, six weeks of adjustment.

But the luxury of tramping around in the emotions that have accompanied these past six weeks was only for his teammates. He cannot afford to allow himself to venture that deep into his heart, mind and soul. There are plans to be conceived, fleshed out and enacted, and this morning he is on the verge of putting the finishing touches on a particularly dark one that will set off a chain of events that he will be unable to halt, even if he would come to regret what it is he is about to do.

For the average person, the sound of a bird's wings flapping can only be heard up close. Even if the bird is twenty five yards away, it might as well be twenty five miles. Likewise, the slight rustle of the leaves as the bird alights in the tree will be completely inaudible. But average people are not elemental, and as the sound of both flapping wings and disturbed leaves reaches Raimundo's ears, his face remains impassive as though he hadn't heard a thing.

Reaching out with his wind sense he zeroes in on the messenger sent by Chase and makes some quick calculations in his mind. Killing the bird and plucking it will be the easy part. After all, how more nauseating and horrible can it be than holding your master in your arms as he dies?

The air turns suddenly chilly and Raimundo crosses his arms and hugs them around himself as memories that he has not quite yet managed to eradicate push themselves upward into his conscious.

Most of what happened that day is now little more than a blur, but only because he has forced it to become as such. There are specific things he can still pick out, however – absurd little things – like, for instance, Omi asking him why the Heylin were smashing and destroying the buildings instead of fighting them directly, and Clay screaming in anger about how he'd just polished the Manta Ray and now they were denting it.

But the one scene that haunts him, the one image burned into his mind that he cannot overcome with brute mental force, is that of running to catch Master Fung just as he was falling from a fatal blow.

That, and the final words the old master spoke even as his blood was seeping into Raimundo's clothing.

"_You…..Raimundo….. Do…..whatever you must….. The Heylin…..cannot win….."_

Naturally, being the good Shoku warrior he was, he imparted this little statement to Master Guan mere hours after they had relocated to the safety of his temple.

Master Guan responded by studying him for several long moments and then asking him what he wanted to do.

Raimundo told him he would think about it.

And think about it he had for the past six weeks. But the thinking part of his plan was officially over and now it was time to move into the taking action part.

Spinning abruptly on the ball of his foot, he strides back the way he came, past the temple, and toward the tree where the crow is perched. There is nothing in his demeanor to suggest he has murderous thoughts on his mind and the crow watches curiously as Rai bends down and begins picking up some twigs that have shaken loose and fallen to the ground.

After Rai has a good handfull collected he walks over to the kindling pile and throws them down. He walks back to the tree and holds his hands out in front of him as though he is studying them. Suddenly, a vortex opens up under the bird's feet. It grabs and pulls at the bird, who begins flapping its wings frantically to lift itself up out of harm's way. But the bird's actions are in vain and it soon tumbles from the branch and is sucked down into the fiercely spinning air.

Down, down it falls, slapping against branches, and limbs here and there, as it descends violently toward the ground. It comes to a stop in mid-air in front of Raimundo's chest. Rai is ready with a stringy twig that he had purposely neglected to pick up. He whips it around the bird's neck and pulls it taut. The bird lets out one last raspy half-squawk, ceases to struggle, and falls dead at Rai's feet.

Rai purses his lips as he scans his eyes over the bird's still form. This is the first time he has taken the life of a being – human, animal, or otherwise.

Funny how he doesn't feel any remorse over it.

xxx

When Master Guan goes looking for Raimundo, he finds only a single black feather and a stringy sort of twig lying at the base of the Pistache tree. It is obvious, at least to him, that these two items were deliberately placed here for him to find, just like the cabinet door in the kitchen was left hanging wide open for him to notice that one of the baking pans has gone missing.

Although he is not aware of exactly what Raimundo has done, he is certain that some sort of struggle has taken place and that Raimundo was not on the receiving end of it. There is an overwhelming feeling within him that all these clues are somehow connected to the conversation he and Raimundo had about two weeks ago when Rai told him he and the others had witnessed Chase and Hannibal having a heated argument near the site of a Wu they were after.

Master Guan pockets the twig and feather and heads back toward the temple. There is nothing he can do for Raimundo. To go hunting after him and to intervene would only throw whatever plans the Shoku has made completely off kilter and possibly jeopardize his life. He walks around the back of the temple and throws the twig and feather in the burn barrel and sets them aflame.

When Omi asks him a short time later where Raimundo has gotten to, he lies and says that Rai felt he needed to take a long walk to clear his head regarding some plans that the two of them had been discussing lately. Omi seems satisfied with the answer and goes to rejoin his teammates.

Master Guan watches Omi as he leaves and wonders what he is going to tell the warriors if Raimundo does not return in a few hours – or worse– if Raimundo does not return at all.

xxx

Hannibal's scent has not yet faded from the stone fortress he inhabitated during the time he entrapped Omi in order to suck all the power from him and take it for himself. The abandoned equipment is beginning to rust, and some pieces have already cracked, and loosened, and fallen to the ground.

Raimundo walks slowly through the remains, replaying in his mind the ensuing fight that occurred when they went after Omi to free him. Those were happier days, he thinks, in spite of the fact that they were teetering on the edge of a major cataclysm. At least Master Fung was still alive and would have been there to counsel them had they failed.

He stops at last and shakes the reverie from his mind. It is a long way from here to Chase's lair and he has no more time to engage himself in warm, fuzzy memories of the past. He has a job to do and, if he succeeds, the balance between the Heylin leadership will be upset to a such a degree that even he does not know what the outcome will be.

Stooping down he lifts the lid of the box he has brought with him and summons the Treasure of the Blind Swordsman. He asks the Treasure to change him into Hannibal Roy Bean but only for three hours. The Treasure complies and Raimundo finds himself reeling backward and tumbling over, and then rolling slightly to one side before coming to a stop. It did not occur to him to consider that being transformed into a body with no legs or feet might throw his center of gravity out of whack.

He whips out a pair of ropey arms and grabs hold of the glass chamber, which is the only piece of rotting equipment still sturdy enough for him to cling to, while he adjusts to his new form.

It takes him five practice "walks" to get the hang of hauling himself along with the tendril-like arms that Hannibal has. He summons the Treasure once more and this time orders him to teleport himself back to Master Guan's temple. To say that it is strange to hear his voice coming out sounding like Hannibal's is an understatement. The Treasure winks out as though it had never been there in the first place, and Rai extrudes two more ropey arms to pick up and hold the baking pan containing the dead and naked crow.

The sun is creeping ever higher in the sky and the air is close with the humidity of mid-summer. He supposes he should be thankful that the bulk of his trek will now be through dense jungle that will be much cooler because sunlight cannot reach that far down past the canopy.

He tightens his grip on the baking pan as though it were the most precious possession in the world that he owned and wends his way back down through the mountain fortress.

Scanning the surrounding open area with his wind sense does not turn up any hint of Hannibal's Ying-Ying bird following him. This is a good thing. If Ying-Ying were dogging him and could prove what he is up to, Chase will never believe that it was Hannibal who killed his crow.

For the first time, Rai realizes just how much weight is hanging on this one belief he needs to instill in Chase. This one belief that is the lynchpin that is holding his entire plan together, is also the very thing that could unravel it completely.

But he has no time to dwell on this now. He pulls the still lingering, dusky scent of damp vegetation from the air and wraps it close around him like a cloak. Placing his two upper rope-arms on the ground, he lumbers forward.

**II**

It is Thursday. And on Thursdays is when Wuya likes to spend time with Hannibal on the pretense of going to visit her evil girlfriends.

Chase knows of course where she is going, and Wuya knows that he knows. It is a little game that they play with each other and, truth be told, he is glad of the few hours of peace and quiet in which he does not have to listen to her whining and complaining.

When the doorbell rings, he assumes it is her and for some reason she has come back a little earlier than usual. It is not even within the range of his thoughts that it is Raimundo, using his power of the wind, to push against the bell button and make it chime.

He opens the door to find no one there. This angers him and he clenches his fists and looks around. Probably that idiot Spicer playing pranks to get his atttention.

One of his warrior cats pushes past him and walks over to begin sniffing at something that is sitting directly in the middle of his doorfront ledge. It is a tin pan covered over with blue cellophane wrap, the kind that humans like to use to cover their dishes of potato and fruit salad during holiday times to make them look more festive.

For reasons he cannot pinpoint, he is overcome with a sense of foreboding. He walks purposely toward the tin pan and kneels down. In one move, he rips the cellophane wrap off and his breath hitches, and he recoils slightly, at the sight of his crow dead in the pan with a post-it note attached.

The post-it note is speared through with a toothpick that attaches it to the bird's flesh lest it should become loose and fall off. There is a single line printed on the note. It says: _Let's see what your made of boy._

The tone of the note, and the fact that "you're" is misspelled, and there is a comma missing between "of" and "boy" tells him two things – namely, that Hannibal has killed his crow, and that he wrote the note to try and goad Chase into confronting him about it.

Seething with anger, he picks up the pan and takes it back inside with him. Obviously, this is in retaliation over the fight the two of them had a couple of weeks back when Hannibal was trying to assert his opinion that he should be in the lead position of the Heylin army. Chase can no longer recall exactly what the two of them said to each other because he chose to write the argument off as insignificant and not worth his time to remember.

Now, however, Hannibal has apparently chosen to escalate things to the next level. The fact that Hannibal cannot write in his true form because he does not have opposable thumbs tells Chase that it was important enough to the bean to use the Moby Morpher to change himself into a being that can hold a pen.

Well, if this fight is so important to Hannibal that he felt he had to go to all this trouble, then it's a fight he will get. And this time, Chase will commit to memory every single, little, stinking detail of it.

He gently picks the bird up out of the pan and drops it into the fire in the fireplace. He closes his eyes just long enough to say goodbye to his loyal, fallen messenger and then he walks over to the wall where his staff is hanging, grabs it, and heads out the door.

xxx

Hannibal and Wuya are having themselves a good ole time, sipping tea and insulting Chase behind his back. Hannibal has just flung out a really nice zinger when the door to his stronghold is suddenly ripped from its hinges and comes flying and crashing into the place.

He and Wuya jump up, battle ready in an instant, and waiting for their enemy to show themself so they can jump him. Instead, what they get is a furious Chase staring them down, holding his staff stiffly at his side.

"What the hell's the meanin' o' this?" Hannibal bellows.

"You know _exactly_ what this is about!" Chase snaps.

"I'm certain I have no idea what you're talkin' about!"

"My crow!" Chase yells.

"Your crow?" Hannibal repeats. "Awwwww, did somethin' happen to your little birdie?"

Hannibal has just inadvertantly managed to seal the deal on the trap Raimundo has set. Although the sarcastic grin and the tone of glee in his voice are only meant to further twist the obvious pain the half dragon man is in, Chase takes the statement as confirmation that he is correct in believing Hannibal is responsible for the bird's death.

With a guttural yell Chase calls on the Heylin magic and conjures up a dark energy ball. He flings it at Hannibal with every ounce of his might and then charges at Hannibal right behind the energy ball's wake with his staff poised to strike the first blow.

Wuya, who had smartly moved off to the side while the other two had been exchanging words, smiles in anticipation. She knows well enough that Hannibal isn't responsible for whatever it is that has happened to Chase's crow, but she's not about to announce it. For a long time she has been left out of the "jockeying-for-position" fight because Chase took her powers away, and she's sick and tired of it. If she has anything to say about the way events will unfold over the course of the next couple of hours, Chase will be dead before the day is over. Picking Hannibal off afterwards so she is once again sitting in the top slot will be the icing on the cake.

She grabs one of the many weapons that line the walls of Hannibal's stronghold and jumps into the fray.

There are many holidays the Chinese celebrate throughout the year, some major, some minor, and none of them happen to be in full swing at the moment.

Nevertheless, the fireworks are about to start.

**III**

At first the monks think that there must be something that is on fire. There is a strange sort of rusty color creeping up and across the sky way in the distance. Clay comments that it must be some fire if they can see it from here. The rusty color is joined after a few minutes by a smear of green that fans out and mingles with the rust color, turning the sky a garish sort of brown. After a while, the color black begins slicing upwards through the other two colors and soon it looks like someone is having way too much fun with a new box of crayons. Kimiko finally takes it upon herself to state that something is horribly wrong and she is going to go get Master Guan.

The entire temple soon empties out and the warrior monks, and Master Guan and his other monks, are crowded together watching in both fear and fascination at the strange mélange of colors that have, by now, taken over most of the lower half of the sky. Master Guan is loathe to state what he is certain he believes is the reason for the calamity and when Kimiko tugs at his sleeve and asks him what he thinks is going on, he is saved from having to come up with another lie by the sound of a familiar voice that cuts through the still air like a knife.

"The Heylin are fighting each other."

As the assemblage of monks turn to look for the person who goes with the voice, Raimundo is coming toward Master Guan and his teammates, elbowing his way through the gathering.

"Rai….." Kimiko starts, a tone of puzzlement in her voice. "How do you know this?"

Raimundo hesitates for a moment before answering. He has no idea what Master Guan may or may not have said to them about his sudden disappearance earlier in the day.

"I…..need to speak to Master Guan," he says finally.

It takes a while for everyone to disperse, and Clay, Omi, and Kimiko are less than happy that they have no idea what is going on. But they return to the temple on the promise from Rai and Master Guan that everything will be explained to them before the day is over.

Master Guan and Rai are now alone and staring at each other. Rai is certain he is his going to be yelled at for what he has done, so he might as well spit it out and get it over with.

"I killed Chase's crow," he says abruptly. "I used the Treasure of the Blind Swordsman to turn me into Hannibal to make it look like he did it." He clasps his hands in front of him and does his best to look contrite. It doesn't quite work.

"And you wanted to stir the Heylin up into getting in a fight with each other because _why?_" the master asks.

Raimundo's voice is cold as he answers the question and he cannot bring himself to look Master Guan in the eye. "I was hoping they might kill each other."

"I see." A pause. "And why exactly did you pick today to carry out this plan of yours?"

A wan smile slowly spreads across Raimundo's face and this time he does look up at Master Guan.

"It's Thursday."

xxx

No one is sure exactly what time of the night it is. They only know that it is far too late for someone to be out on their doorstep banging to be let in.

Master Guan shoos the four monks back behind him as they run down the halls, and tells them to be at the ready. The Heylin evil outside the temple feels like a tangible thing and Master Guan pictures it seeping through every pore and crack in the wooden doors.

He cautiously opens one door and peers out. Then he steps back and pulls both doors wide open.

Chase is standing alone on the walkway, looking not at all like he had spent the better part of his afternoon in a fight with Wuya and Hannibal.

"You may consider this a courtesy call," he says with a smirk. "Hannibal is dead and Wuya is back under my control. You should expect the rules of engagement to change from this point forward."

Before Master Guan can formulate a response, Raimundo is shoving his way past him to address Chase himself.

"You killed him?" he asks.

"I did," Chase says simply.

The expression on Rai's face shifts into something unreadable. "But you left Wuya alive…." His voice trails off and there is a strange look in his eyes as he scrutinizes Chase. "Interesting," he says, and then turns and walks away.

Chase watches in puzzlement as Raimundo retreats back into the temple, while Master Guan tells the others to head back in also. There will be no fight tonight and there is still more sleep to be had before the sun rises in the morning.

As his charges head back down the hallway, Master Guan turns to Chase and tells him that now that he has delivered his message, he can feel free to leave anytime.

But Chase doesn't feel like leaving just yet. He is both curious about, and stymied by, the strange response from Raimundo. He points his staff in the direction the monks have gone and says, "It would appear as though Master Fung's death has affected Raimundo in a rather odd way."

A surge of anger wells up in Master Guan and his normally placid features darken slightly. "You have no right to speak Master Fung's name. Especially in front of the young ones."

"Ah, the young ones," Chase retorts. "Still, I expect to be given a good fight. I never like to win too easily, you know. I expect Raimundo will be capable again when the time comes?"

Apparently, Chase's question has hit a nerve because for a long moment Master Guan does not answer. It seems to Chase as though the master monk is warring internally with himself as to how to answer the question. When he does finally speak, it is not what Chase had been expecting him to say.

"You have no idea what Raimundo is capable of. _No idea_ at all. I suggest you spend the next few weeks stocking up on your sleep, Chase Young. You are going to need it."

And with that, the master turns on his heel and walks back into the temple, slamming and barring the wooden doors shut behind him.

Chase remains on the walkway, now thoroughly bewildered at the way the conversation has gone this evening. This definitely has not turned out the way he had expected it to. He had thought that he would at least be served with a volley of sarcastic comments. But the other three had remained strangely silent and he still isn't sure what to make of Raimundo's comments. As for Master Guan, the master almost acted as though there was something he was aware of that Chase was not. But what?

He stares up into the night sky and sighs. It is just occurring to him that for the first time ever he has no clue what has happened today at the temple.

If only his crow were still here.

finis

* * *

This story differs from the first two in the way it is written of course, and in the points of view that were presented. In the first two stories, Rai was the central character, but the stories were tilted more towards showcasing the thoughts that were running through Chase's, Wuya's and Hannibal's minds as Rai was attacking them. In this one, though, we delve into the thoughts going through Rai's mind and we see much more of what the motive is behind the way he's acting.

Going back to the way it's written - There's a writer on the LOST boards that writes in the present tense style from time to time and I thought that this style would be a good way to present this particular story. It makes the story seem like what's happening is happening "right now." Although I must say that's it's also a little nerve-wracking to read a story written in this way. At least for me anyway.

And finally, one comment about the tree. It is the only piece of research I did for this story. I wanted to find a tallish sort of tree that was native to China. It is the Chinese Pistache tree or, Pistachia Chinensis. If you google it, you can read all about it.

I do hope you enjoyed the story, and feel free to leave a review if you like.

TTFN, Nori


End file.
